The positive in advance: Because of the corona pandemic, there will be no relegation at the Ice Hockey A World Cup for the U20 national teams in Canada, as there was a year ago. Austria is thus spared a bitter relegation battle, which would have been unavoidable considering the quality of the giants.
At the start of the tournament, the selection of coach Marco Pewal slipped into a 1: 7 (0: 2, 1: 2, 0: 3) defeat against Finland, on the night of today with Canada an even greater caliber awaited. As expected, the team around Steel Wings Linz goalie Leon Sommer paid the hardship. “It’s just a huge difference, you noticed that on the ice,” summed up Pewal.
“We knew that it would be a very difficult game and that we would not have the disc. We had to make sure that we protect our house very well and play very well defensively. We did that sometimes very well, but sometimes we have them left too easily in front of our goal. We have to learn from that, “explained the team boss.
The preparation for the first match was anything but optimal. After a player had a positive corona test, the entire team had to be in quarantine for 24 hours in their own hotel rooms; the final training was omitted.
Accordingly, the red-white-red cracks came out of the starting blocks slowly. The Finns, who won bronze at the last World Cup tournament, dominated from the first second. Already after the first third there was a 2-0 lead and 21-4 shots on goal in favor of the Scandinavians.
Defender Martin Urbanek scored the consolation goal, who reduced it to 1: 3 in the 26th minute in the power play. But the Finns were able to step up a gear when they saw it necessary.
The stage on which Austria’s team appears is impressive. Rogers Place in Edmonton has more than 18,000 spectators, and a maximum of 9,000 can be there live. It should have been so many that night during the test of strength with the “maple leaves”, which are looked after by ex-Vienna Capitals coach Dave Cameron.
Source: Nachrichten
